The Big Guns

Here's our new power supply. The grey thing on the right is the Variable Transformer we were using before. The Blue Box is a step-up transformer that can handle up to 4,000 V. The stuff in the milk crate is our capacitor array for smoothing out the 60 Hz ripple on the DC. This new setup now isolates the secondary side of the transformer, so we can actually ground the cathode. The white coil is going to be a choke I put in series on the Anode to prevent violent current fluctuations. Eventually I'd like to use a bifilar coil with the other strand being on the cathode, to maximize voltage and minimize current draw.

This equipment is heavy and is kindof overkill for our purposes. But safety first! :) I'm using it because it can handle the unexpected voltage jumps that occur when plasma forms.

Eventually, I'd like to use a Flyback Converter instead of all this, so that the entire system can run off a 12 V car battery.